Jan. 13, 2017
07:11 am JST

If it's a peaceful protest, fine. If not, anyone participating in any form of violence is wrong and needs to be appropriately dealt with by law enforcement.

I can understand many are frustrated that this president was elected by a voting minority, but at this point they have to accept that's their US system. If they think there are problems with the system, and with the Electoral College in particular, they should channel their energy into finding better ways to deciding how a presidents is elected.

A starting point could be a re-think of how electoral districts are determined.

Jan. 13, 2017
08:19 am JST

If it's a peaceful protest, fine.

I agree with you. It must remain peaceful.

But lets not forget, peaceful protest in public is not on the accepted list of protest types right now. Neither is protesting while black, nor protesting while rich, nor protesting while poor. So as long as the protestors are all middle-class white people, who do it where no one that disagrees with them can see, there will be no complaints.

Jan. 13, 2017
08:24 am JST

Jan. 13, 2017
08:32 am JST

@tumled US is a federation.

Do you mean 'republic', perhaps 'democratic republic'? My point stands: a minority of eligible voters elected Trump. Among those protesting will be people from the majority of eligible voters who voted against him and who perhaps feel he will not be a president representing the full spectrum of the US, and instead will represent those who comprise the range from .01% to 1%. In other words, his people.

Jan. 13, 2017
09:21 am JST

Jan. 13, 2017
09:57 am JST

sad.... so sad...... it doesn't matter who's going to be your president. Disrupt an inauguration? Stalk and bully other voters, attack other people because they think different from you, is this ★America☆ or a corrupt, violent fifth world country?

Jan. 13, 2017
10:10 am JST

So this guy is coming to do a seething rebellion yet they have to say they are worried about violence from Trump supporters? Uh what?

How about you except the results of the lawful election and protest by means that do not have the potential of having someone die or get hurt? Civil rights and other basic human rights are worse risking your personal safety or even your life. Being butthurt because your candidate didnt win is not. Protest at the ballot box next time and use tools at your disposal to get more people to vote the way you want next time.

Imagine the outcry if Trump had lost and his supporters would do this. I am extremely disappointed that Obama didnt use his 50 min speech of talking about himself and his legacy to tell people not to do this. Wheres Hillary by the way? A statement from her would be nice to remind people that is un-American to not accept the results of the election and that its HORRIFYING, as she said.

Jan. 13, 2017
10:18 am JST

This is bad for lots of reasons. It will increase the division in the country. I can't think of a similar case in any country ever, where the elected leader has been hated by so many people both at home an abroad, even before coming to power.

Although I am not a Trump supporter and believe he is not fit to be president, I do believe in democracy and am willing to wait and see how he does.

My advice to the protesters is don't make trouble. Give the man a chance. If he screws up, then you can vote him out of office in three years and 10 months from now.

Jan. 13, 2017
10:20 am JST

this president was elected by a voting minority

President (elect) Trump won the popular vote in 30 of our 50 states, and he shellacked Mrs. Clinton in the EC vote 304-228. That's 57 percent of the total tally. He clearly received a mandate from those of us who voted in November. . . .

Jan. 13, 2017
10:31 am JST

“We are not in favor of a peaceful transition of power, and we need to stop it,” organizer Legba Carrefour said.

Terrible and irresponsible thing to say. How can one expect demonstrators to walk peacefully and avoid any clash with the other side when organizers themselves claim they do NOT want a peaceful transition?

Jan. 13, 2017
10:31 am JST

@Strangerland. yes, at the ballot box in a lawful manner. All of the so called protests of this era are some form of this:

Lets go march around and break and burn something. Lets destroy the economy in our own neighborhood. Oh that pair of shoes you wanted, lets go break the window and you can just take those. You DESERVE those shoes because you are being repressed, man!

Dont have work or school tomorrow so lets try to get on TV. Hey, Im on CNN! Why am I protesting, you ask? What is our message? Well because....uh....RACISM! Im angry! Hands up! The man! JUSTICE!

So why did the people in this article not talk about peaceful protests with a message? Their message is disruption, resistance, rebellion and they are NOT for peaceful transfer of power? What do they propose instead then?

Jan. 13, 2017
10:40 am JST

Jan. 13, 2017
10:43 am JST

PTownsend: voting minority thing, US is a federation. first its a republic , then its a federation. The US harps on about being the pillar of modern democracy, yet one of modern democracy's fundamental rule/rights is "one person one vote " Even Japans courts have ruled voter disparity is unconstitutional. Why should a rural persons vote be it in Japan or America be worth more than the POTUS or prime minister. Sound undemocratic and discriminatory to urban voters

Jan. 13, 2017
10:45 am JST

Not quite sure why Black Lives Matter is involved? Trump hasnt done anything to them, are they just paid professional protestors now? Trump has said there will be law and order, they want to protest that?

Also seriously where is Hillary? She was soooo against and horrified by all of this when she thought it would be Trump supporters doing it.

Jan. 13, 2017
10:52 am JST

President (elect) Trump won the popular vote in 30 of our 50 states, and he shellacked Mrs. Clinton in the EC vote 304-228. That's 57 percent of the total tally. He clearly received a mandate from those of us who voted in November. . . .

President Trump was chosen to be president by 3 million people less than Clinton. He did not receive a mandate from the people. He got less than 50% of the vote, which was voted by only ~60% of the population. That means only ~30% of the population actually voted for him. Hardly a mandate.

Jan. 13, 2017
11:05 am JST

Yes, I agree with that verdict. At least until such time as protestors can articulate why they are protesting and do it without claiming rebellion, disruption and resistance. Also disregarding peaceful processes and trying to incite violence by harassing people on the other side until they get punched? Then use that to claim the other side is violent?

Jan. 13, 2017
11:06 am JST

President Trump was chosen to be president by 3 million people less than Clinton. He did not receive a mandate from the people. He got less than 50% of the vote, which was voted by only ~60% of the population. That means only ~30% of the population actually voted for him. Hardly a mandate.

Commander in chief, head of the armed forces, has the House, the Senate, more Republican legislators, the presidency, I would call that a very strong mandate.

Jan. 13, 2017
11:09 am JST

Have these protestors even considered that all the resources that are going to be taken up dealing with them leaves the inauguration less protected from non protestors who may actually want to do harm? If I were a praying person, I would pray that no one gets hurt and that security is able to prevent anything bad from happening from outside sources.

Jan. 13, 2017
11:09 am JST

Protest, but do not engage in violence or scorched earth policies or you will lose my support

To see how Jan. 20th will play out, look no further than how Mrs. Clinton supporters reacted by rioting in the streets in the states that voted for her for days after Donald Trump won the election. Or, the lMrs. Clinton supporters who assaulted a motorist simply because he had a Trump bumper sticker on his car. Or, the Mrs. Clinton supporters who beat up a mentally challenged person and broadcast the attack on YouTube Live in the hopes of it "going viral".

To the the radical alt left, violence is the only way they can express themselves. . . .

Jan. 13, 2017
11:29 am JST

Jan. 13, 2017
11:33 am JST

All those protesters sure are lucky they're getting the day off from work to be there...

Oh, wait- nevermind

Heh, they will be just killing time until their welfare checks arrive in the mail at the end of the month. BTW, wonder how they will be able to get by after they start taking mandatory monthly drug and alcohol tests before getting their EBT cards replenished or be able to contact each other after President Trump orders that all Obama phones be turned off. . . .

Jan. 13, 2017
11:46 am JST

Jan. 13, 2017
11:47 am JST

You mentioned Trump, and you’ve probably heard the argument, or the concern, that fake news somehow helped him get elected. What do you make of that?

My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time. I think Trump is in the White House because of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything — they’ll post everything, believe anything. His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist.

Jan. 13, 2017
11:47 am JST

here are several documents where others say that people are being paid and that has examples of job listings for $15 per hour. This is unverified and could be incorrect, but I feel I have to let everyone know that it is possible this is happening.

Jan. 13, 2017
11:48 am JST

“We want to see a seething rebellion develop in this city and across the country.”

Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. But it might not end as you had hoped.

From the #DisruptJ20 website

We’re also providing services like housing, food, and even legal assistance to anyone who wants to join us.

Turns out they don't offer legal assistance, just a list of Do's and Dont's.

The DC Welcoming Committee isn’t funded by any non-profits, isn’t connected to any political parties, rejects all forms of domination and oppression, particularly those based on race, class, and gender, organizes by consensus, and embraces a diversity of tactics.

So why didn't they protest Obama? After all, he's sold more weapons than any other President, bombed many countries, and oppressed a lot of Syrian's, Libyan's and Yemen's, that's for sure.

If arrested. What to expect with post and forfeit-If you are given the option to “post and forfeit,” it means that if you pay a certain amount of money (usually $50 or $100), the case against you will be dropped.

So THIS is how Trumps gonna pay for the inauguration. Genius!

We encourage everyone to be safe, smart, and supportive of all comrades in all the ways they choose to express dissent.

Wait WHAT? So they're communists or anarchists? I'm confused.

This looks more like a well organized "fundraising campaign" rather than a call to action, IMO. Besides, if they try to move out of their "protest zones" they are going to be met with direct action themselves. Hopefully be the authorities, but maybe a few citizen groups as well. I just hope nobody gets shot.

OR, this could be just a Deep State False Flag op. and only a small handful of protesters who were stupid enough to believe this crap. Anyway, they've called for, and plan on "taking direct action", so they will be arrested immediately for inciting violence.

And in fairness, I read that they had previously planned on protesting Hillary's inauguration. So there's that. Can't verify.

Jan. 13, 2017
11:50 am JST

Heh, they will be just killing time until their welfare checks arrive in the mail at the end of the month.

You know, speaking of Russian hacking... it would be funny if the Russians hacked all the EBT card readers in DC for the days before and of the inauguration. All those protesters would be mighty hungry...

Jan. 13, 2017
11:51 am JST

here are several documents where others say that people are being paid and that has examples of job listings for $15 per hour. This is unverified and could be incorrect, but I feel I have to let everyone know that it is possible this is happening.

Ahh I see the problem. You read news reporting unverified reports, and believed them to be true without them actually having been so. So the problem isn't actually in the news you read, it was in your lack of reading comprehension that led you to believe a rumor was true.

Unfortunately, that means that in this case, the problem wasn't in the news, it was in your reading comprehension.

Jan. 13, 2017
11:52 am JST

The first time I can remember hearing about fake news was from Hillary and her people when her health issues came up.
They were saying those were made up with no basis in fact. Then it was proven to not be fake news after all but unverified real news that was then verified when she collapsed in public on 9/11.

I am doing the CNN approach from now on. If another website has documents and reports it as true, I am reporting it as news with no attempt to prove or verify any of it. It is up to the reader of my post if they believe it or not. But a document exists so it cant be fake news.

Jan. 13, 2017
11:56 am JST

I am doing the CNN approach from now on. If another website has documents and reports it as true, I am reporting it as news with no attempt to prove or verify any of it.

As long as you are reporting it as unverified, then it's fine (though somewhat unethical). Brietbart does it all the time, and you guys love that site. If you are reporting it as true without confirming however, then you are simply creating fake news.

Jan. 13, 2017
11:57 am JST

My reading comprehension is just fine. I believe the contents of the document on the website, just as others believed the contents of the Trump dossier. If it later turns out to be not true, then its not my fault. Same as people saying when they found out Michael Cohen never went to Prague, that immediately makes that document made up fake news

Well, maybe some of the rest of it could be true......they say. So even if some of the documents in that link can be proven false, doesnt mean that other parts arent true. See what happens when people dont have to have proof or evidence before they start talking about things?

Jan. 13, 2017
12:14 pm JST

My reading comprehension is just fine. I believe the contents of the document on the website

The website says it's unverified. So if your reading comprehension is just fine, and you choose to believe it as true even when the website doesn't make that claim, then it shows a lack of reality comprehension.

Jan. 13, 2017
12:55 pm JST

The first time I can remember hearing about fake news was from Hillary and her people when her health issues came up.

The first time I heard about fake news (which wound up being the biggest fake news story of 2016) was immediately after the DNC convention when the radical alt left media reported -- and kept reporting all the way up to Election Day -- that Donald Trump "had no path to 270 votes". . . .

Jan. 13, 2017
01:09 pm JST

first time I heard about fake news (which wound up being the biggest fake news story of 2016) was immediately after the DNC convention when the radical alt left media reported -- and kept reporting all the way up to Election Day -- that Donald Trump "had no path to 270 votes". .

See once again your showing that you don't understand what fake means. The only way that could be fake is if someone could see the future, knew for a fact trump was going to win, and reported the above regardless.

Jan. 13, 2017
01:25 pm JST

Jan. 13, 2017
01:47 pm JST

Oh yeah it was reported nearly every day that Trump had no path to 270. Yet here we are talking about people being butthurt about his inauguration. So I guess there was a path after all...? Thinking back shouldnt there always be a path? Unless there is a WALL :-)

Jan. 13, 2017
01:54 pm JST

Jan. 13, 2017
01:57 pm JST

So when aliens actually land on Earth someday, do we go back and change all the Alien abduction/UFO fake news of today into real news? or does it stay fake because it was obviously made up and unverified at the time it was published?

Same as Hillary DID have health problems as the so called fake news reported. But is it still fake news now because it was fake at the time and not proven until after?

Man, this is confusing. Im done with this topic, its messing up my head. All I know is it that to ME is much much more likely that protesters were paid than it is that Trump did all that stuff in the dossier. What we are gonna call fake news and what we are gonna call unverified news, I dont know.

Jan. 13, 2017
04:38 pm JST

all the protesters will still be poor and stupid, and Donald Trump will be President. actually statistics show Trump supporters come from uneducated middle/lower class. meaning the average IQ and income is lower than that of Clinton supporters. SO after Trump has existed the white house, "his supporters will still be poor and uneducated, nothings going to change that." there fixed it for you.

Jan. 13, 2017
04:54 pm JST

Just remember, anti-hTrumpers, if anything happens to Trump, you get President Pence. If something happens to both of them, it's President Ryan. The Republicans will still be in charge, and they will be extremely angry. You don't want to start a civil war, no matter how much you think you do.

Jan. 13, 2017
07:07 pm JST

Jan. 13, 2017
07:13 pm JST

Burning Bush, no they don't any longer, which is why free speech is endangered. These protests are proof that they don't understand the system. Democrats see the Constitution as just an impediment to progressive goals written by dead white males. Now that Trump is President, they will of course hurriedly research it for limits to his power...but will forget it as soon as a Democrat is in power.
These protests are just a way to try and delegitimize him because they can't stand the fact that they lost.
To those who don't understand the electoral college, the election is really 50 smaller elections, and you have to win in more than just CA, NY and FL...otherwise those states would always choose the President. (Which is of course, why Dems now want The popular vote to suddenly matter)

Jan. 13, 2017
08:29 pm JST

Democratic hypocrisy - you have to respect what the majority thinks, but then you go on demonstration trying to block legal process supported by both the majority and the law. America is such a joke from the common human decency perspective.

Jan. 13, 2017
09:23 pm JST

Not sure people from outside the USA understand how we feel about protesting here.

The right to protest (freedom of speech) is similar to the right to bare arms or freedom to follow (or not follow) any religion or freedom of the press. Just because I don't like your speech or religion or news story, doesn't mean I won't protect your right to it.

If I don't want to hear it, I can leave the area. It can be an inconvenience, but those are things we (Americans) feel strongly about.

Most of us have traveled to places in the world where these "rights" are not rights at all. Those cultures are different, not better, nor worse, just different. Sure, I'd love to be able to "protest" in Mexico, but it is illegal for me to do so. I'd also like to speak the truth when in Thailand or Indonesia.

The USA is not a democracy. We are a "democratic-republic" - look it up. 1-person, 1-vote seems fair on the surface, but the USA is a country with widely varied lifestyles for good reasons. The land demands it. The climate demands it. Should all the people in Tokyo control what happens in Sarufutsu? The smart men who wrote our Constitution knew that the east coast would have more population than the western parts of the country, so as a way to prevent city-folks from overruling what was best for rural people, they made senators. I think the senate originally elected the president directly, not the people.

several methods of electing the President, including selection by Congress, by the governors of the states, by the state legislatures, by a special group of Members of Congress chosen by lot, and by direct popular election. The "Committee of Eleven", which devised the electoral college system in its original form.
The group

sought to reconcile differing state and federal interests, provide a degree of popular participation in the election, give the less populous states some additional leverage in the process by providing “senatorial” electors, preserve the presidency as independent of Congress, and generally insulate the election process from political manipulation.

Jan. 13, 2017
09:52 pm JST

Protesting democratically chosen president is a paradox for what democracy stands for. On the one hand, you have freedom of speech even if it is hate speech against the Mr. President, so it is fine. On the other hand, you have the majority, which is the foundation of democracy, who have chosen their president democratically. Now the protestors do not respect the BASICS OF DEMOCRACY. It is either a demention on national scale or a democratic paradox that makes the whole system America tried to uphold gloriously for the last 300 years IS UTTERLY BROKEN LADS!
Yet they keep biting yourself in the leg. While they are at it, at least you can not bite the rest of the world.

Jan. 13, 2017
10:58 pm JST

Jan. 13, 2017
11:43 pm JST

IS UTTERLY BROKEN LADS!

I wouldn't go that far, broken, yes. Utterly, no. It's called inverted totalitarianism, and the MSM, a very important part of it, has many of my fellow citizens by the ears.

Whereas in Nazi Germany the state dominated economic actors, in inverted totalitarianism, corporations through political contributions and lobbying, dominate the United States, with the government acting as the servant of large corporations. This is considered "normal" rather than corrupt.[9]

One reason we are having a hard time with healthcare is that Big Medical and our government protects them. If you want to be a doctor in the US you have to do your residency in the US, and there are lines around the block to get in. Meds, patents, insurance for profit, on and on. Obamacare was written by these pigs. Why can't we import thousands of doctors from China?

Jan. 14, 2017
05:04 am JST

Jan. 14, 2017
05:09 am JST

Trump supporters come from uneducated middle/lower class. meaning the average IQ and income is lower than that of Clinton supporters.

It was just that kind of affected classist sophistication that handed Trump the Presidency. If the liberal left learns anything from the last campaign cycle and subsequent Trump election, it should be that demeaning and dismissing the opposition's supporters is not a winning strategy.

Maybe the liberal/left should have taken heed of his advice. Instead they believed their own caricature of Trump supporters and dismissed them as "deplorable" and"irredeemable" and that cost them the election.

Jan. 14, 2017
06:13 am JST

Even if Trump supporters are as uneducated as the opposite call them, they managed to vote up the president they believe would represent their lives in their society. Which means, that the majority of the society supports Trump. No matter how you look at it, those angry at Trump for winning do not want a better, just society, they just want their own society. Inhumane.

Jan. 14, 2017
12:41 pm JST

Jan. 14, 2017
01:18 pm JST

Clinton lost the Electoral College 228 to 304, and lost 30 out of 50 states I'm not sure why some peope think she should be president. And the Democrats lost not only the White House, they lost the House and the Senate, I'm not sure why some people don't think they have some house cleaning to do.

Jan. 15, 2017
06:33 am JST

Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3,000,000 votes. I'm not sure why people think that is a mandate for Trump or that the Democrats have some house cleaning to do.

@Super Lib

If you look at California and New York, Hillary pounded Trump with just a little less than 6,000,000 votes.Yet in the national tally she was only 3,000,000 ahead. I don't know how you interpret those numbers, but from my perspective it looks like Trump won the popular vote in the 48 states outside of California and New York.

If you look at the steady decline of Democratic Party representation in the legislative branch of the federal government as well as State Governors and state legislatures, I personally, don't see why the Democratic Party cannot realize that there might just be something wrong with their message and methods and maybe a reevaluation of their party platform might be in order.

Jan. 15, 2017
06:44 am JST

SuperLib: C!inton won the popular vote by nearly 3,000,000 votes. I'm not sure why people think that is a mandate for Trump or that the Democrats have some house cleaning to do.

Because:

(wikipedia): Trump won a decisive victory in the Electoral College, winning 30 states with 306 pledged electors out of 538, and overturned the perennial swing states of Florida, Iowa and Ohio, as well as the "blue wall" of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which had been Democratic strongholds in presidential elections since the 1990s. Leading up to the election, a Trump victory was projected unlikely by most media forecasts.

And why are you mangling 'C!inton'? It's a weird typo to make, the ! and L keys are on opposite sides of the keyboard.

Jan. 17, 2017
12:07 am JST

Just think how many more protesters there would be if Inauguration Day was right after the 1st of the month.
Being nearly 3 weeks into a month, the protesters already dipped into their welfare checks pretty hard, and many may be unable to afford a bus ticket to DC.

Jan. 17, 2017
05:43 am JST

Jan. 17, 2017
07:45 am JST

As one who supported neither candidate and certainly no supporter of Trump I am reminded when President Elect Trump was asked if he would honor the results of the election during one of the debate. He answered that he would wait and see and he was crucified for that statement. Now I hear that members of Congress will not attend the inauguration and that protesters wish to "disrupt" it.

I am not happy Trump is our President Elect, however the hypocrisy of this is stunning and the silence from the losing party on this issue speaks volumes.

The United States is a country divided and those in power wish it to remain so for their own selfish benefit.

Jan. 17, 2017
10:44 am JST

He clearly received a mandate from those of us who voted in November. . . .

I didn't vote for any democrat in the last election, but don't think Mr. Trump has any mandate. People voted for him for 2 reasons:
a) anyone BUT Ms. Clinton
b) anyone who isn't a lifetime politician - an outsider

Jan. 18, 2017
05:57 am JST

@theFu

I agree-but Trump's suckage exerts exponentially many more pounds per square inch. I bet a large number of these people ddint even vote....kind of like closing barn door after horse done gone...

But again the electoral college which provided the world with the Iraq war and the financial crisis is the gift that keeps on giving the least informed disproportionate voting power. Even Trumpty Dumpty knew that until it benefited him not to.

Jan. 18, 2017
07:16 am JST

Fact: Peaceful Protest = No change to the status-quo , Violent Protest = change to Status-quo, E.G Civils Protest of the 50,s The Protesters were not violent but the response was. The same with Vietnam war Protests end up violent and this change policy. Anti- ApartI in South Africa was a no way non violent struggle. I assume that this protest will be non violent. The election of Bush when he just won with a total vote of 60 million the lowest turn out numbers for voting in the election. Bush went to war saying he had a mandate of the USA people which was only 1/5 of the USA population. There was no protest then. These people are just sore losers, They really have non conviction with how the public feel. When with the Civil right and Vietnam moments they had popular support. this has not. This election was won on Demographic not on the over all public feel. Hills, won the all over vote or the pop vote but not the total backing of the voting system.

Jan. 20, 2017
01:13 am JST

Jan. 20, 2017
03:50 am JST

more mass protests should be in the making not just one. You the Sheeple have been milked for everything your worth and just do nothing to stop it. If you really are the land of the free, show us how it's done.